Tacos Tacos Tacos | A Quick, Easy, & Delicious Taco Night

Tacos :: An amazingly versatile meal.

Last summer, when Jeff and I had just moved to Ohio we were living in a super tiny apartment, with a kitchen that we had put together with the bare bones basics. All of our stuff was still en-route to Columbus, and we were living like we were in college again. We had a table and four chairs and air mattress in the living room. So what do you cook when you’re completely overwhelmed, have none of your normal kitchen equipment, and you’re having a new friend over? It didn’t take me too long to figure it out. Taco night.

Because seriously, who doesn’t (at least) like tacos?

Cooking in that apartment had become almost a game, to see what I could make with the fairly limited kitchen. That night, which was one of the first of many with my bestest of best friends Jesi, (who by the way, showed up that very first night, knowing I had had one of the hardest days I’d ever had, with ice cream, flowers, and wine, and didn’t care about my tear streaked swollen-after-ugly-crying-for-three-hours face).

That night, I came up with the first iteration of my baked chicken tacos, which are ever evolving, and have become a staple around our house.

What’s better than tacos? Tacos & Margaritas.

Tacos and Margaritas. Taco night just isn’t the same without both of them.

With family in town last weekend (which you can (and should) read more about HERE) we decided to have a pre Cinco de Mayo dinner while we were all together. Ony, of the biggest challenges I face living across the country from my family is being away from them on holidays that we have celebrated together for as long as I can remember. Having the opportunity to sit down all together albeit early, was fantastic. and just what I needed.

My dad and his wife live in Palm Springs, so impressing them with tacos is no small challenge. These did the trick, and in a big way. They both loved them. The big pitcher of margaritas we drank didn’t hurt either.

Really though, tacos without margaritas?

That’s just wrong.

In our house we have a few go to taco recipes that we rely on, depending on the flavor that we’re hungry for. They vary in complexity and in how long it takes to get them from ingredients in a grocery bag to ready to eat on the table.

These tacos? Killer flavor, quick on the bag to table time scale.

One of the thoughts that everyone on earth can relate to is the ‘what are we having for dinner tonight’. Bonus points for having this thought as you’re stuck in traffic driving home from work. Stacy and I had that thought as we were driving back to the house after spending the afternoon shopping, tossing various ideas back and forth with nothing quite sticking.

She mentioned she needed toothpaste, so we figured we’d stop at the Walmart, grab toothpaste, toilet paper, and the other miscellany that we needed.

We walked in, still tossing ideas around until the smell of the rotisserie chickens hit me.

I knew instantly what we were doing for dinner. I turned my cart to the Old El Paso® aisle.

Check out the Old El Paso Website to learn more about what they do, and to find more awesome recipes. (seriously, the recipes on their website are ammmmmmazing)

Old El Paso® Stand & Stuff Shells are the key to these bad boys.

Their stand and stuff shells are one of my favorite taco shells, especially for these tacos. The fact that you can almost everything you need from this same section of the store is an added bonus.

Here’s what you need to toss into your cart while standing there.

Stand and Stuff Taco Shells

Refried Beans (one can)

Roasted Green Chilis (two cans)

Taco Seasoning Packs (I use one hot & spicy and one regular)

Other things you need to grab as you’re swinging through the store ::

A roasted chicken

Shredded Cabbage or Lettuce

Salsa

Shredded Cheese (I like a blend, go with whatever you like the best)

Avocado

An onion or two.

Garlic

Old El Paso®’s Stand and Stuff shells have made this SO much easier to do, trying to get normal hard taco shells to stand up to bake was a big challenge. Ultimately one that the taco shells won, and as such, I’d given up until I found these bad boys.

Baked Cheesy Chicken Tacos

Everyone has had that night, driving home from work and the realization hits that you forgot to take something out of the freezer.

Generally that realization hits after a rough day and dinner is the last thing you want to think about.

This is the perfect recipe for those times.

Ingredients

Old El Paso® Stand and Stuff Taco Shells

Old El Paso® Refried Beans (one can)

Old El Paso® Roasted Green Chilis (two cans)

Old El Paso® Taco Seasoning Packs (I use one hot & spicy and one regular)

A roasted chicken (Two if you like t have leftovers)

Shredded Cabbage or Lettuce

Salsa

Shredded Cheese (I like a blend, go with whatever you like the best)

Avocado

An onion or two

Garlic

Limes

Butter or Olive oil, enough to sauté the veggies.

Instructions

Pull the meat off of the roasted chickens & shred. (we either use two forks and pull it apart, or, you can throw it in the bowl of a stand mixer and use the paddle attachment, turn it on medium, bam, shredded chicken)

Chop the onion and garlic, sauté i a large sauce pan. over medium high heat until onions start to turn clear.

Stir well, turn heat to low and cover, cook until all liquid has been absorbed.

While chicken is cooking, spread a layer of beans to the bottom of each Stand and Stuff taco shell, lining them up either in a casserole pan or a baking sheet. If you use a casserole pan, you'll need two

Add a layer of shredded cheese on top of the bean layer.

Layer the chicken mixture on top of the cheese.

Layer the shredded cheese on top of the chicken (use as much or as little as you'd like)

Bake the tacos at 350 until cheese is starts to bubble and turn brown.